Eileen's Oddysee
by Zacki-Chan
Summary: Eileen returns to her village to find that everyone has been taken. With the help of a renegade slig named Craig, will she be able to save them? Involves use of an original species
1. About Katkireen

Eileen's Oddysee Prologue: About The Katkireen

There are many different type of Katkireen in many different parts of Oddworld, and all of them possess a variety of different characteristics that make it easier for them to live where they do. Though there are many, the ones this story will be following are the Forest Katkireen, native to the Mudos continent. The typical Forest Katkireen has light brown fur and yellow eyes as well as a long furry tail. Within the fur of the tail are hidden poison barbs that detach from the tail and into the victim. While the poison is very effective on smaller creatures, anything bigger than a large rat will only suffer minor nausea from this.

Katkireen have three fingers and one thumb on each hand. They have claws, which are retractable, though the royalty typically choose to have their claws kept dull as to demonstrate elegance opposed to brutishness.

The most notable feature of the Katkireen are their legs, which have three joints opposed to the usual two. Their legs resemble that of the metal skeletal 'pants' legs of sligs in shape, and are essentially spring loaded, allowing them to jump great heights. Ironically they're poor climbers.

Forest Katkireen are capable of being omnivores, but are mainly carnivores. Their mouths contain two sets of of sharp teeth equipped more for raw meat than for herbs.

As a culture, the Forest Katkireen are divided into four large tribes in the north, south, east, and west (the one that we'll be focusing on is in the east) Each tribe lives in large villages hidden in the forests, and mainly wears one color specific to their tribe, in the North, it is blue, South is purple, West is green, and East is red. But one thing they all share is a love of jewels, giving the species the dubbed name of 'Gem Hoarders'. Every Katkireen owns and wears a decorated gemstone on their forehead, and typically many more in the forms of arm braces, tail braces, necklaces, and many other forms.

Though once prosperous, the Forest Katkireen greatly suffered from over hunting of their prey, and took an especially hard hit with the extinction of Gabbit and Meeches. In the Eastern tribe, their king had to make some very hard decisions, to secure what he thought would be a better future for his people...


	2. Chapter 1: Short Comings

Eileen's Oddysee Chapter 1: Short Comings

The royal family of the east Mudos Forest Katkireen tribe consists of twelve beings: Queen Reina, King Benjamin, Prince Charles, Prince George, Princess Vanessa, Princess Karen, Princess Elenor, Prince Thomas, Princess Lana, Princess Amber, Princess Hannah, and the youngest, Princess Eileen... Or at least everyone seems to THINK I'm the youngest. I am Princess Eileen, and I am 24 years old and the oldest of my siblings. But, thanks to flawed genetics, I am what you would call, pretty damn short. I am a mere 4"1, and the average height of an eight year old Katkireen. But yes, in reality, I am the oldest and the heir to the throne... Or at least I was. My brother Charles is now. I refused to marry so I guess that's grounds for 'you can't be a reliable queen anymore'. Honestly if I had agreed to marry then my husband would have just been in charge anyways so really I don't see the point in it.

"Maaaa..." My youngest brother Thomas whined. "I don't WANT Scrab cakes! I want a Mudokon pop!"

"Now Thomas you will finish your Scrab Cake or you will never have another Mudokon pop again in your life!" Mother threatened.

"Honestly I'm getting sick of Scrab cakes too..." I said in agreement. "I could really go for some Meeches Munchies..."

"What's a 'Meeches Munchies'?" Thomas asked.

"Delicious. That's what they are." I told him.

"I'm sorry but our dear friends the Glukkons say that the Meeches have migrated to North Mudos, we'll have to settle for what we still have." Father reminded me. I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, at least we never get Gabbiar anymore..."

"Now Eileen..." Mother scolded. "You know how rare that deliciously is... Now eat your Slig Stew." I groaned, but continued to spoon the disgusting chunks of meat into my mouth, swallowed hard, then gagged.

"Gross..." I stuck out my tongue and rubbed my hand over it, attempting to scrape off the taste.

"Eileen..." Father said, glaring at me.

"What?" I asked. Hannah and Lana giggled.

"Eileen you will be more respectful of your food." Father said sternly.

"Why? It's disgusting." I retorted.

"Yeah! It all tastes fake!" Elenor added.

"It's too salty!" That would be Amber,

"Why don't we ever have fish anymore?" Charles.

"ENOUGH!" Father slammed his fists down on the table. "Eileen I've had enough of your odd damn attitude!" He snapped. "You will go to your room and not come out until you have learned to be grateful for your food!"

"Fine!" I yelled, standing abruptly. "I don't wanna eat this crap anyways!" I then stormed off to my room.

(Third Person POV)

Benjamin sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why do I bother...? She doesn't understand anyways..." He mumbled. His wife, Reina, rubbed his back.

"Don't worry Hun..." She then motioned with her eyes at their other children, and mouthed 'keep it together'.

"Father..." Charles, their second eldest child started. "I was in the village today... The mars ones are gone, nobody knows where they went... Did they move to the northern village too?" He asked. Benjamin nodded.

"Of course, they just didn't want anyone to be sad about them leaving so they simply left without a word." He explained,

"Just like the Leerons!" Vanessa added.

"And Kons! Oh and the Beckers! Wow it must be really great up north if everyone' shading there!" Thomas exclaimed. It was true, that for many years it seemed as though one family would move away every other month to move up north, and never be heard from again. "Even Uncle Jerry and our cousins moved up there!"

"Yes... They left too..." Benjamin took a large swig of rum from his glass.

(Eileen's POV)

I sat on the end of my bed, shredding one of the many silk pillows father had gotten me from south Mudos. 'Stupid father... Stupid crappy food...' I thought to myself. I looked over at the embroidered family quilt that hung on my wall and sighed. 'We used to be so happy... Now we're just... I don't even know anymore... Why is father so edgy now? Why is mother so anxious? Why are people leaving? Why do we have to eat this shit food?!' I sighed. 'I just need some space...' I opened my latch window and climbed out. It was almost sundown. I always used to sneak out at night and go to a clearing in the woods and look at the stars and moons. I always found it very relaxing. I slowly descended from the window onto the ground, then darted into the forest. After about twenty minutes I reached the clearing. It brought a smile to my face. The lush grass, the small wild flowers, the Zapflies fluttering through the air, it was just so peaceful. I used to come here with my father, we used to lay on the grass and look up at the sky. He used to joke that if we didn't hold onto the grass we'd fall off into space. I didn't know what happened to him... We used to have so much fun together, our whole family did... But then, when I was around ten years old, food started scarce. Hunters started coming back with less and less food, the markets became bare, every night I'd go to bed hungry. But then Father met the Glukkons. They were happy to provide us with food in exchange for our gems and silks. The market's filled back up, and the best part was us royals were allowed our own stock of food, free of charge. But then Father became really on edge, he was almost obsessed with the food. Anyone who complained about it he'd yell at. Even mother started acting strangely.

I sighed as I laid back onto the grass. Nostalgically, I gripped the grass in my fists. Maybe things would get better for us... Hopefully... And with that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep in the grass.


	3. Chapter 2: From the Inside Looking Out

Eileen's Oddysee Chapter 2: From the Inside Looking Out

I awoke hours later, it was dark and the stars and moons were out. Odd knows how many moons Oddworld has. One night I counted three, the next five, then another only two. I suppose as the planet rotates different moons become visible or something along those lines. On this night I noticed something odd about one of the moons... A strange looking hand print. I held my hand up to it, but it didn't match. The third finger was too short to match mine, and the thumb was much too thick. I assumed it must have belonged to another species... Glukkons? No... I'd never seen a Glukkon but from what father had told me their hands double as their feet and are very big... Still having have never seen one I guess I couldn't completely rule that out. Paramites and Scrabs I'd only ever seen illustrations of, and they don't have hands. I'd only ever seen the face of a Mudokon... So that was a possibility. Or perhaps it was just a meaningless collection of ruts on a moon.

I stretched slightly and rolled onto my side. I didn't really want to go back home yet, and elected to instead just sleep the rest of the night out in the clearing. I could apologize for worrying Mother and Father in the morning, and continue eating that disgusting food like there was nothing wrong with it. I chuckled slightly to myself. 'Slig Stew... I bet Slig is just a term Glukkons use for unidentifiable processed meat...' With that thought, I drifted back to sleep, making little note of all the noises I could hear coming from the direction of my village.

Amoungst my many talents, is over sleeping, as I woke up to find the sun sitting in the middle of the sky.

"Shit it's noon..." I muttered to myself, standing up and stretching. If my parents weren't worried before... They would be now. I rushed back to the village without another thought... Perhaps if I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have noticed the flattened grass on the forest floor... When I arrived, no one appeared to be around, which was strange since the village was usually so lively in the afternoon, but now it was silent, almost eerily so.

"Hello...?" I called. "Is anyone out...?" No one responded. I headed to my house and opened the front door, only to find that the insides of the house had been picked clean, no furniture, no people, and many scratches and ruts now on the floor. I think it was then that it dawned on me that something had happened during the night. I searched the house, no furniture, no people. Even my own room, all that remained was the pillow I had ruined. They were gone. It occurred to me then, that the whole village could be gone, vanished in the night like spirits. I wanted to cry I was so scared. Was this Miha's punishment for me? I always thought Miha was a loving and forgiving goddess, but how else could this have happened if not the work of a god?! My eyes widened, as I heard a metallic sound coming from outside. I ducked by a window, and peaked out to see- oh odd. I wasn't sure what they were, but they had mechanical legs in similar shape to that of us Forest Katkireen, wore masks that covered their faces (with the exception of these strange tentacle mouth things they had) and carried guns. They resembled the illistration on the Slig Stew label. Were these Sligs? Had I been eating them? Had my whole village been eating them? Were they pissed off that we had been eating them?! I wouldn't blame them, I'd be pissed if someone had been eating my species too.

"CHECK... TORCH THE PLACE." One of them ordered in a mangled voice. I didn't hear everything it said, but I didn't like the sound of 'torch the place.' I fled to my brother Charles room, once filled with art work and decorated in with blood black gems, now it was empty, leaving nothing behind to be remembered. I opened the window of his room, and listened.

"Yeah yeah... Just make sure these isn't any of those gem hoarders in there... One of their pelts is worth thousands!" One of the creatures yelled. Pelts... Oh odd... Were they here for our furs?! Who would want to wear our furs?! Is it not a little morbid to wear what was once on something living?! In my panic I jumped out the window, only to find there was nothing to stop me from plummeting three stories to the ground. I silenced my groan. My ankle hurt, I had probably twisted it. I could hear one of those creatures coming towards me, I tried to get up only for it to grab me by my arm and pull me up. I screeched, only to be met by a two fingered hand slapped over my mouth, while the creature used his other hand to restrain my arms.

"HEY 074!" One of the others called. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

"AH IT WAS JUST A STUPID FUZZLE!" 074 yelled back. "HATE THOSE BUGGERS!" I almost felt offended, I wasn't a fuzzle, but at the same time, I was surprised that one of these creatures who had supposedly come here to find me and anyone else remaining, was lying to them. Of course it could just want the money to itself, I thought. "... Listen..." 074 whispered in the rough voice that seemed to be shared by this species. "I'm not gonna turn you over to the slaughter house." Slaughterhouse?! Was that where everyone else was?! A slaughterhouse?! "You're probably a little scared right now... It's okay... I am too... My name's Craig, I'm gonna getcha out of this. Just promise me that you won't yell of do anything stupid when I let you go. Nod if you understand." I didn't really want to trust this strange creature, especially not when it had a gun, but at this point in time, I didn't see many other options. All I knew was on my own I was potentially screwed, and this creature who supposedly had some idea what was going on says he wants to help me. Reluctantly, I nodded, and it let me go, and picked back up it's gun. "We're not safe here, just follow me I'll get us far enough away so we can talk."

I followed the creature into a deeper part of the forest, away from the village.

"So... Craig, is it?" I started.

"Yep! They usually call me by my number, but I like Craig better." Craig explained. I nodded, trying not to show how awkward I felt talking to something that I couldn't look in the eye, let alone had tentacles on it's face.

"So your number... That's 74?"

"Actually it's 074 but I guess that's the same thing."

"That's oddly specific." I commented.

"Well, what's your name?" Craig asked.

"Princess Eileen Meekarien of the Eastern Tribe." I introduced with a hint of pride in my voice, as I held my hand over my chest.

"That's a bit of a mouthful. Can I just call you Princess?" Craig asked. I glared at him.

"You will do no such thing. My name is Eileen."

"Then why'd you say your name is Princess Eileen Meekairen of the Eastern Tribe?"

"Because that's my full name and title! It's how one is to introduce themselves!" I explained.

"Right... Well... My species barely even have names so I'm just Craig, but I guess if I wanted to be fancy like you I could be Slig 074 Craig of the Southern Magog Enterprises Butchery and Warehouse." He said, holding his hand over his chest in a similar matter to how I had.

"Are you mocking me?" I asked. "Because so far you've given me little reason to trust you and if you were to be mocking me-"

"Alright alright I'm sorry Miss Eileen. I didn't mean to upset you." I rolled my eyes.

"It's fine I guess... I have worse things to worry about than my diplomacy being mocked by an unknown creature-"

"I'll have you know I'm a slig." Craig interrupted. "We're pretty common in Mudos." All those memories of meals of Slig Stew came back to me.

"Oh... Uh... Sorry about the whole, 'used in really nasty stew' thing... I imagine that sucks quite a bit." I said awkwardly. Craig laughed.

"Oh please miss, your species flesh and blood has been being sold for ages! Apparently your blood makes some mighty fine wine!" He said in a way I'd never expect anyone to speak of slaughter, especially when his words made me grow faint.

"People... Eat... Us...?" Craig stopped laughing.

"Shit. Right. You wouldn't know that. Sorry..."

"Is that what will be the fate of my village?" I asked.

"Well... Maybe. That is a very valid possibility, and given the Glukkons have been doing a lot of advertising for people's last chance to get their hands on Katkireen Cuisine... Yeah. That's probably the plan." I sat down to prevent myself from being injured if I fainted. "I think they also want to work the angle of mass selling your pelts and holding some in secret, and then pretending they found the last of your pelts and auctioning them off in various parts of Mudos for Odd knows how many times the profit. Not to mention your fancy gems and silks." He explained. "Don't worry I'm not gonna let that happen to you though. I'm gonna take you some place real safe! There's a Mudokon Fort a bit north that would take you in! You'll never have to worry about the Magog coming after you again!" He assured me. "Hell with enough convincing they might even take me in!"

"What about my family?" I asked him, tears welling in my eyes. "Do you expect me to just let the, die?" Craig was hesitant.

"... No. Of course not..." He muttered. "It was stupid of me to think you'd do that."

"Is there any chance of saving them?" I asked him. He thought for a bit.

"Well... It would be a long shot, but as a stitch lipped Mudokon proved, it can be done." He started. "We'll have to wait for the slig patrol to leave your village, they'll probably just assume I died or got lost, happens a lot for us. Then, we can head out of this forest to these train tracks. There's a train that comes through here every day in the evening and heads down to the Magog Enterprises Butchery and Warehouse. If we can catch it, it can take us there by morning. All we have to do from there is get in and get everyone else out." Craig paused. "... We'll have to take out the guards. I can do that easy, just... I'd rather not... They really don't know what they're doing..." I stood up again.

"Look maybe we can find a way to spare the guards, but if they're shooting at us, I'd appreciate it if you shot back. I just want to get as many out of there as we possibly can... And maybe some of our stuff if we have time."

"Right, well we'll see about that."


	4. Chapter 3: From Ashes to Ashes

Eileen's Oddysee Chapter 3: From Ashes to Ashes

We waited out there in the thick of the woods, arguing over cultural differences for quite some time, until the sky grew shades of orange.

"The other should be gone by now." Craig told me, hoisting up his gun.

"How do you know for sure?" I asked him. Craig chuckled.

"Name that Trauma comes on at six, they won't want to miss that... Probably the only thing I'm gonna miss about working for the Magog." We started walking back through the woods, as we continued to talk.

"What is 'Name that Trauma'?" I asked him.

"It's a game show on the TV, only one run entirely by sligs." Ah Television... Father had told me about Television. Always wanted to see one for myself. "You see, it's a game show, where they bring Mudokon's out, and they slaughter them brutally and the contestants have to name the method used for the slaughter, or the cause of death!" Never mind maybe I didn't.

"That sounds sickening. Is that really what you'd call entertainment?!" I asked him.

"Well to be honest I think I enjoyed it more when I was younger than I do now. I'd still watch it with the bros for the hilarious Slig host, Valet." Craig chuckled again. "What a guy... Showin all us that Sligs can still make it in a Glukkon run world."

"So the whole death thing doesn't bug you?!" I exclaimed.

"You get used to it. I've been around death since I was a bit more than a egg! Mudokon slaves die all the time under the Magog, hell, us Sligs probably die more than they do! Work place accidents happen every day. It's hard for death to bug you when it never has." I wanted to say more but stopped myself. This was clearly something I didn't have the up bringing to understand. I assured myself that some of my people's pass-times probably seemed equally as gruesome to him, though I highly doubted it.

"So... Sligs... They're now usually like you are, I assume." I asked him.

"Nah not really. I'm sure any of them could be capable of being the rebel scum I've become, but we're brainwashed from birth to believe the Glukkons are our supreme leaders and we are to follow them no matter how little they pay us." Craig explained.

"Why don't you think that then?" I pressed. He was quiet for a bit.

"... So I used to know this guy, we hatched together. His name was 075, but I called him Todd. We grew up together, got beaten by Mama together, and eventually, got hired into one of the Magog Cartel's locations together. We were both guards, stationed at posts near each other. It was pretty great." If sligs could smile, I would have bet that Craig would have been smiling ear to ear... Of course that would also imply that Sligs have ears. "But after a couple years, there was an incident. A large portion of Mudokon slaves had escaped, and in turn the boss decided to punish us sligs by not letting us get any food. He kept this going for a week, I thought we were all gonna start dropping. My buddy Todd especially wasn't lookin too hot during this, so I took it upon myself to break into one of the many Glukkon safe rooms the factory possessed, and grabbed me some Scrab cakes." Craig chuckled. "Ah even as a young un' I was such a renegade... So I gave some of the cakes I took to Todd, and we ate them together, and I thought everything was gonna be fine, but then the boss came along, said that he knew one of us stole food from his safe room. I swore I was gonna die right then. But, Boss..." Craig hesitated. "Then he ordered me to shoot Todd. He said he knew it was him who stole from the safe room, and I was to shoot him, and if I didn't, he'd have both of us sent in for Slig Stew, so-"

"You shot Todd." I said

"Yeah... I did. He was pretty dead after that too." Craig sighed. "Boss... He said something after that, something that's always stuck with me. After I shot Todd, he said 'I'm glad we could be rid of that 074. We have no room for thieves here. Carry on, 075'. It was that that made me realize that boss couldn't tell the difference between us, to him we're all the same. He had me kill Todd, cause he thought Todd was me. I remember thinking I must just be the luckiest bastard in Mudos!"

"Is that what made you turn against them?" I asked him.

"Well... In part. I was kind of pissed off that the Glukkons could get away with treating us like they do the slaves, but I still didn't mind work. I mean beating the shit out of muds is pretty fun-" I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Your job was to beat things?! And you enjoyed that?!" I exclaimed.

"Well technically my job was to keep the slaves in line at any means necessary." Craig explained.

"So what's to say you won't just decide to beat me, huh?" I questioned, glaring at him.

"Ah you got nothin to worry about. You're furry!" I blinked a couple times.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well you're covered in fur, I've never hit something covered in fur and I don't plan on starting now." He explained.

"Good, I'll have you know I grew up with three brothers and if you so much as look at me wrong I won't hesitate to beat you into the ground." Craig chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Miss 'of the Eastern Tribe'." I was about to say something back to him, but then I smelled smoke. Given that we were heading in the direction of my village, this was not a good sign. I broke into a sprint, praying that the smoke wasn't the result of what I thought it was. "Hey miss Eileen! Not so fast!" Craig yelled as he followed after me.

I could see it before we were out of the woods, the flames, the destroyed houses, the ashes. Yet, I still refused to believe it until I stood right before it. My village in flames. The only home I'd ever known, gone. I fell to my front knees and cried.

"Hey lady look I'm sorry I teased ya but really ya need to get a thicker skin good odd..." Craig grumbled as he finally caught up, and laid eyes on what I was seeing. "Oh... Uh... Guess you find this upsetting?" I stood again and glared at him, the tears still in my eyes.

"Did you know about this?!" I yelled.

"Well... Kinda... I knew they were talkin about doing somethin like this-" He said.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" I screamed, my hands balling into fists. Craig raised his arms defensively and dropped his gun.

"Woah! Just wait a second! If I told you they were gonna do this, you'd wanna try and stop them, and then you'd be full of lead!" He reasoned. I was silent. "Tell me if I'm wrong."

"... No... You're right..." I admitted. "Sorry... It's just been a long day... Actually that's an understatement... Huh, and it's not even sundown! Still time for my life to fall apart even more, if that's even possible!" I let out a fake laugh.

"Sorry, I guess. You've lost a lot-" Craig started as though he was attempting to be sympathetic.

"I've lost everything. Everyone I've ever known is gone and awaiting death, and I'm stuck with a creature that looks like something that crawled out of my nightmares who I'm not even sure I can trust!" I yelled, before realizing I shouldn't upset the nightmarish creature with the gun. "... No offense." I added.

"None taken, I wouldn't trust anyone as fugly as me either." I did my best to pull myself together and remember the task at hand.

"So, a train. We have to catch one of these creatures and it will take us to our destination?" I asked. Craig laughed.

"Well it's not a creature, but yes we do have to catch it." I was rather excited for this. I had never seen a train before, this was still a new concept to me, and I couldn't wait to travel on one.

After some thought, I decided that it would have been better if a train remained a new concept to me, as the more Craig told me of them, the less I wanted to be near one.

"Craig, I've decided that I don't want to travel on this metal beast you call a train." I told him. He laughed and gave me a light smack on the back.

"Ah relax! We're just gonna wait for the train to come by, see if there's any ladders or open compartments, and hop on! Pud Glukkons do this all the time!" He explained. I made a mental note to ask what a pud was later. I felt the ground shaking beneath my feet. "Oh here comes one now!"

"This is a bad idea." I muttered, fear clinging to my voice.

"Ah you're just sayin that cause you've never done this before."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"Well... No..."

"EXACTLY!"

The train rumbled down the tracks past us. Craig was looking for an easy way for us to get on, when I noticed a ladder on the side of one of the approaching carts.

"There! That one!" I yelled, pointing at it. I made a jump and grabbed onto the ladder, as Craig ran after the train at a pace that made me worry I was gonna lose him and be stuck on this metallic beast alone.

"There's only so fast metallic legs can go!" He yelled. I was too far up to reach down and grab him, and before I could think of any alternative options, I lost my grip on the ladder, and fell back, my legs tangled in it's rungs, preventing me from falling. I took advantage of this opportunity to grab Craig by his arm and pull him up to the ladder. He then proceeded to climb over me and onto the top of the train. "... Hey Eileen, are you stuck?" He snickered.

"No, it just so happens my people enjoy hanging upside down from fast moving metal beasts- OF COURSE IM STUCK!"


	5. Ch4 Breathing While all Others Drown

As the train continued down the tracks (and I continued to fight off motion sickness) the sky grew dark and the stars and moons became visible.

"Huh, would you look at that." Craig commented. "That's kinda nice..."

"What, haven't you seen a night sky before?" I asked him. He chuckled.

"Nah, not out here. I've seen it in cities before, but you usually can't see the sky there, smog usually blocks it up." He explained. I smiled slightly.

"I used to be able to see this every night from the window in my room." I told him. "There was also this clearing by my village I would go to look at the sky... That's actually where I was when my village got taken."

"Lucky you." Craig chuckled.

"I don't feel lucky." I muttered. I thought for a moment. "You said part of the reason you turned against Glukkons was because they made you shoot your friend-" I started.

"Well it was mostly because I realized they don't care about us, but yeah." Craig interrupted.

"Right... Was there anything else that happened?" I asked him. "I'm just having a hard time understanding what led you to essentially betray a people you had been raised to serve."

"Well... I was scared." Craig said. "Our pay has been getting smaller and smaller lately. We're practically working for free now. Everyday a handful of us die in the factories, and what's left of their bodies become food. We're almost salves to them, and one day it just hit me, we were going to end up slaves to them. They need us more than we need them, and they sure as hell don't care about what happens to any of us! We die, we get replaced, and I don't wanna die. So when they sent a patrol of us out to scout for any of you left over gem hoarders, I was just gonna take off, go find that Mudokon Fort..."

"Guess I kind a ruined your plans, huh?" I commented.

"Yes actually you did." He muttered. "Don't know why I did that, something came over me I guess... Don't make me regret this."

"I could say the same to you, pal." I said with a smirk.

"Can't believe you convinced me to go back to the very place I escaped..." Craig grumbled.

"Like I said, I want to get as many of my people out of there as possible." I reminded him. "Especially my family. I've got a little brother in there who's only six, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let him die..." I chuckled. "Though, maybe we'll get there and find that my brothers have already started saving everyone!" I suggested. "Maybe Charles and George have already brought everyone together and are in the process of escaping. Charles has always been the brave one, I'm almost sure that he has it in him to fight and save everyone!"

"Well that depends..." Craig started. "Does he have a gun?"

"Well no..."

"Is he bullet proof?"

"No..."

"Does he have previous knowledge of the layout of the building?"

"Not that I know of..."

"Does he have powers of possession?"

"Of course not that's ridiculous."

"Then if he's tried anything he's probably already dead." Craig concluded. I sighed. There went my sudden burst of optimism. Though it had only been a day, it felt like an eternity since I last saw my family. I wondered if Father was still mad at me, probably not since his Glukkon buddies betrayed him. I also wondered if my siblings were mad that I of all of them was the only one spared... I wondered if in their place I would be upset too...

I had fallen asleep before train reached the storage house. Losing everything you've ever known takes a lot out of you I guess. Craig nudged me awake as we approached the tall looming building.

"Hey... We're getting close." He said to me. "We have to get off here or they'll see us when the train arrives."

The image of Magog Industries Butchery and Storehouse will be forever burnt in my mind as the most terrifying place I'd ever seen. Pillars of smoke towered above it, the exterior metal and rusted, with the large Magog Cartel logo I used to see on the crates of food we'd get from them. Together the whole thing was bigger than my entire village put together. Even from a distance, I could hear the building, with all the inter works, the grinding metal, I could hear it all. It was very unnerving.

"Come on Eileen." Craig grumbled. "We have to go!"

I first lowered Craig down the ladder to a point where he could fall without breaking his fancy metal legs, before climbing down myself. My ankle was still sore from twisting it, but I had been able to ignore it thus far.

"Well! Here it is!" Craig announced.

"How are we getting in?" I asked him. He laughed.

"A better question would be how are we getting back out!" He smacked me lightly on the back again, something I was assuming sligs just kind of did amongst themselves. "Come on, I know a back entrance."

I followed Craig to a large drainage pipe that led under the storehouse, as we continued to walk, the way was only lit by the red light from Craig's mask. He stopped and looked up, shining light on a hatch.

"Alright, so I'm gonna warn yah... This hatch only opens from one side. Once we're inside, we won't be able to take this way out unless we find a way to blow it up, and that's gonna draw a lot of attention, but it's locked on the other side to keep slaves from getting out." He explained. "Once we're in, there's no turning back."

"So be it." I told him. I couldn't turn back now, not knowing that I'd be leaving my people for death.

"Alright, as long as you're sure..." Craig opened the hatch and I quickly climbed through, only to find myself in an empty room, with a tall female Katkireen dressed in rags staring down at me.

"I thought I heard somethin' coming this way..." She muttered. I had never seen her before, it was likely she wasn't from my village. I bowed to her.

"I am Princess Eileen Meekarien of the Eastern Village, and I have come to save you!" I told her. She laughed.

"How precious, a princess who thinks her title actually means something here..." I was deeply confused. "Look kiddo. I came here with the rest of my village on our own terms, they feed us, and in turn, we work. It's better than starving out in the west."

"Oh so you're from the western village!" I exclaimed. I had never met a Katkireen outside of my own village before.

"That doesn't really matter anymore, but yeah, I was born out there." She said. "With the Eastern's now here, all the villages are in one place. Granted, there's not a lot of us anymore...not sure what happened there..."

"What happened is they started eating you!" I yelled. Meanwhile Craig managed to hoist himself up through the hatch, but held it open slightly to stop it from snapping shut again.

"Hey, you want out?" He asked her. She laughed.

"I'm not falling for that! I'm just gonna go out there and get shot at!" She knelt down in front of me and ruffled up the fur on the top of my head. "Look kid, I'm not playing your silly game, I have work to do." She then left, with me being more confused than ever.

"Craig? What was up with that?" I asked him. He thought for a moment.

"Uhhhhh... I don't know all the details cause this happened long before I worked here, but there's still a handful of voluntary Katkireen workers here, all the non voluntary ones were already slaughtered about a week after they got here, I'm assuming that the rest of the voluntary workers will be slaughtered with your village." He explained. "I dunno there's probably a bit more to it than that, but that's all I know."

"Alright... So then we should have a week to get everyone out, right?" I asked him. He nodded.

"As long as they're not ahead of schedule, that should be right, though it would be nice if we could not take a week to get them out, personally I'd only like to be here for a couple hours..."

"It's going to take more than a couple hours, Craig." I retorted. Before Craig could say anything back, a loud siren went off.

INTRUDERS IN THE FACILITIES. ALL WORKERS REPORT TO ZULAG 6 UNTIL THREAT IS TERMINATED. A mangled voice sounded over the intercom.

"Well great. They know about us." Craig muttered. "That took all of two minutes."

COMMENCING OPERATION A7

"What's operation A7?!" I asked Craig frantically.

"I don't know but I don't want to find out! Come on!" Craig grabbed me by my arm and dragged me down a hall way before stopping abruptly and feeling around on the wall.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I yelled at him.

"JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!" He yelled back. "I FOUND IT!" He slammed his fist against a panel. It slid up under the other panels revealing a key pad. Craig punched in a series of numbers, and the panel slid back down, and a large portion of the wall popped open into a door revealing a small room. Craig dragged me inside it with him and slammed the door behind us, fastening several locks on it. The room had a couch in it, a strange cube shaped device I didn't recognize, and a fridge. I sat on the couch and felt a cool breeze blowing down on, I looked up and saw a vent panel.

"This is one of the Glukkons panic rooms." Craig explained. "I found out about these while I was talkin to 001, big boss' right hand slig. There's a couple of them in every zulag in case the boss comes down and some sort of riot or other danger breaks out, they just stay in here until it calms down. It's completely off the map, even got its own ventilation system in case they have to gas the place." Craig opened up the fridge and pulled out a couple Scrab cakes. "They even got a fridge and a TV!" He tossed me one of the cakes. I looked back at the cube shaped device.

"Oh so is that a TV?" I asked. He nodded.

"Sure is!" He pressed a button on the TV and the screen lit up, a slig standing in front of red curtain with a microphone and several screens behind him.

"Magog on the march! News, you can't abuse!" He announced.

"Oh hey I used to know that guy!" Craig said, pointing at said slig.

"We've got an update from the Magog Cartel!" The slig continued. "They will be making their final shipment of Katkireen Cuisine and Black Blooded wine for a chalked up price, so if you're into that kind of stuff, better be prepared to empty your wallet!" Craig looked at me and chuckled.

"Do you things really have black blood?" He asked. I glared at him.

"I'm assuming you don't, then?"

"Oh odd that's weird!" Craig laughed.

"Says the thing that has tentacles on his face!" I retorted. "How long are we going to have to stay in here anyways?"

"Until they call off the operation." Craig explained, sitting next to me. "But until that happens! Might as well enjoy some scrab cakes!" At this point I decided I didn't want to learn how Sligs ate today, and turned away to eat my own cake.

OPERATION A7 COMPLETE, THREAT TERMINATED. BACK TO WORK! The intercom blared.

"Well, I guess they think they got rid of us!" Craig declared. "Alright, so what's our plan if attack?"

"Priority is to find my family and village, but I'd also like to get some of our stuff back." I told him. He sighed.

"Is there no way we can just forget about your stuff?" He asked.

"Craig they took all our stuff and in teen took our culture and years of history-" I started.

"Alright fine but don't be pissed if we can't do that..." Craig started unlocking the door. "You ready for this?"

"Hey you're the one with the gun, I'd hope you'd be ready." Craig opened the door and we exited into the hall. It was quiet, though the halls were still lit.

"Alright, follow me." Craig instructed. I followed him down the hall. As we continued along, there were no workers or guards to be seen.

"Is it usually this quiet?" I asked.

"No... This is odd..." He muttered. We entered into a large room, completely empty. "Alright, this is screwy." There was a large door left ajar at the end of the room. "Hey that's supposed to be locked!" We walked up to it, and soon voices could be heard. I ducked behind the door to avoid being seen, and listened.

"This sucks!" The mangled voice of a guard slig complained. Craig ducked next to me.

"Ah shut up!" The other slig snapped. "At least we don't have to deal with those gem hoarders..."

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Craig whispered, before leaving out cover and approaching the two Sligs. I pressed my ear against the door and continued to listen. "Hey what's happenin' bros!" Craig greeted.

"Hey man what up?" One of them responded.

"Hey, uh, do you guys know what happened to all those Kat things?" He asked them.

"Nah man, we got no idea." One of them said.

"Think they might be in Zulag 6 still." The other said.

"Alright, thanks!" Craig came back around the door.

"We gotta go to Zulag six." He whispered to me. "Come on, it's over this way." Craig led me down another hall and out onto a platform with a large circular device with the number five above it. He led me into it, and a door closed behind us. The device started moving down a track, and turned and opened onto another platform, now with the number six above it.

"Alright, we're here!" Craig declared. I followed him again into a hall, grinding gears and saws could be heard.

"What do they do here?" I asked Craig.

"Well this is the butchery part of the store house and butchery." Craig explained.

"What are they doing here?!" I exclaimed. "I thought we had a week before they'd be butchered?!"

"Well I'm hoping we still do! Just come on!" He yelled back, and then, we passed by a glass window. Two legged skinny creatures could be seen hanging skinned gutted slabs of meat above large buckets to collect blood. The meat was black. So was the blood. Words were escaping me. Everything was escaping me. Thoughts, breathe, hope.

"They're... Dead..." I gasped. I saw furs being held up on the walls. The heads were left on as though they were to become decorative rugs. I could recognize some of them. Charles. George. Mother. Eleanor... Father.

There was a sign on the glass window, the list of operations. On it it read 'operation A7, in case of threat related to live stock being taken, this zulag will be gassed and live stock will be butchered.'

"Eileen..." Craig grabbed my arm. "Eileen we have to go. We have to go NOW." He said with panic staining his voice. I was in shock, complete utter shock. Everyone. They were dead. Craig pulled me along as he ran, but I didn't run with him, just being dragged along. I didn't care. I didn't care about anything. Everyone I had ever known was dead. All the other forest Katkireen. They were all here. They were all dead. I was the last one. I should have died with them. I should have been taken with them. I should have died with them. I didn't deserve to live while they died.

"Come on Eileen pick up your feet!" Craig yelled.

"Too late... We were too late..." I mumbled. My sight was growing dark. "T-too... Late..."

(3rd person)

Eileen went limp, Craig still having a firm grip on her arm.

"Dammit!" Craig cursed. He pulled her over his shoulder, and and carried her along, her legs dragging on the ground. He looked around for an exit, and spotted the disposal pipe.

"Hey! There's the rogue!" One of the guards yelled. Bullets started flying his way, and he had to work quick, throwing Eileen down the pipe and jumping in after her.


End file.
